Christmas Valentine
by HereWeGoNow
Summary: Before this year, Callie had never experienced the joy of being in love on Christmas. Too bad she was stuck at work without the one she was in love with. Set in season 6 on Christmas Day.


**This was created as a gift for jj_280391 over on LJ for a Secret Santa exchange.**  
**My prompt: Just something happy and festive. I prefer canon to AU but I'm not opposed to AU.**  
**Beta: Caliente0323**

* * *

"Dr. Torres?"

Callie didn't open her eyes or move. She hoped that whoever had the nerve to interrupt her pity party would just go away.

"Dr. Torres!"

Again, she ignored the voice. She was too emotionally and physically exhausted to deal with anything else right now. She'd already had to tell two separate families that today was the last Christmas their loved ones would ever see. It was never easy to have to be the one to break that kind of news, but it was especially difficult to do on holidays.

"Dr. Torressssss!"

The voice was getting whiny and almost desperate sounding now. Still, she refused to look up. Months ago, she had volunteered to run the Emergency Room on both the evenings of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, just like she did every other year prior to when she was still a resident. It was her Christmas gift to her colleagues who had children, partners, or family nearby to spend the holiday with. Plus, it guaranteed her New Year's off, which was an added bonus. Callie hadn't known that when she signed up that this year would be different though. This year she had a girlfriend who she was head over heels in love with. She had to smile at that. They just recently confessed their love for one another and it still made her giddy just thinking about it. It also made her wish that she wasn't missing their first Christmas together. Since she was working two overnight shifts and Arizona had worked during the days, they barely had a chance to see each other. They had agreed to do their Christmas together the next day, but it wasn't going to be the same. She sighed when she heard an ambulance approaching in the distance and wished more than anything she was at Meredith's with her girlfriend and work family. She had already received a video of Arizona and the Chief singing a duet that made her fall in love with the blonde all over again. It also made her insanely jealous. Even though Christmas carols weren't really her thing and neither was performing in front of groups, it still should have been her singing with her girlfriend, not their boss.

"Dr. Torres, please. This is humiliating."

Callie frowned and finally lifted her head from the desk of the nurse's station she was trying to hide at. Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in shock when she saw an intern she vaguely remembered making cry earlier standing in front of her in a full blown elf outfit. He even had pointed ears, red and green striped tights, and pointy shoes with bells on them. "Umm..." She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "Can I help you?" She grinned when he handed her a cup of coffee from her favorite coffee shop and a note with _'Calliope'_scrawled across the top in Arizona's hand writing. The intern hovered over her as she read the rest of it.

_I sent you this elf to make you smile  
Be nice to him, his name is Kyle  
This isn't where you want to be  
But wait until it's just you and me  
I will make sure it is all worthwhile_

Callie laughed and shook her head as she looked up at the scowling elf. "You people will do anything nowadays to scrub in, won't you?"

Kyle ignored her and jumped right into the next thing he was supposed to do. "Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing, ring ting, tingle-ing too. Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you. Outside the snow is fall-"

"Stop." Callie held up her hand. She was trying so hard not to laugh at this poor kid. She also didn't want to hear the rest of his very unenthusiastic version of one of her favorite Christmas songs. "What else is Dr. Robbins making you do?"

"I just had to put on this outfit, deliver the note and coffee, and sing the stupid song."

"Okay, you're dismissed then." Callie waved her hand at him and sat back in her chair to enjoy her coffee. Arizona had definitely succeeded in putting a smile on her face. Something she rarely failed at. Callie looked up when the elf continued to linger. "Seriously, dude, you're free."

Kyle frowned. He needed to finish the song or he wouldn't get to scrub in on Dr. Robbins' next surgery. "But-"

"If you leave right now, I'll tell her you did a good job."

"Thank you!" He turned and scampered off as quickly as possible toward the locker room, jingling all the way. Laughing to herself, Callie set down her coffee and immediately noticed there was something written on the outside of the cup in red ink. She picked it back up and saw it was in her girlfriend's handwriting again.

_Eyes like chocolate  
Warm me from the inside out  
Nothing else compares_

And the giddiness and goofy grin were back in force, but this time they were accompanied by at least a thousand butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. Arizona always made Callie feel like such a... girl. She loved it though. This was by far the healthiest and most 'grown up' relationship she'd ever been in and no one had ever made her feel as good about herself as Arizona did. Callie wasn't sure if their success so far was because of the blonde or if it was because they had actually taken the time to do everything right. Instead of jumping right into bed together, they got to know each other first. They went on dates and did all that courting and wooing crap. They talked and talked and talked about anything and everything. It was refreshing and Callie had a strong feeling it was mostly because Arizona was different. So different and she couldn't be happier that the blonde was in her life. A sudden loud cacophony of bells coming from behind her completely caught her off-guard and she jumped, spilling a splash of coffee onto her scrub top. She scowled and turned around to find three more interns wearing Santa hats. She raised an eyebrow at them in question.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells! Jingle all the way!"

"Stop!" Callie held up both hands. "No more singing."

"Dr. Torres, please. Dr. Robbins is mean," the intern Callie had already decided to call Prancer said.

"Did you really just call my girlfriend 'mean' to my face?"

"Um..." Prancer glanced sideways at Dancer and Rudolph. "No, she's really nice. We love her."

"Please tell me there aren't anymore horribly out-of-tune singing interns in my future."

"No, we're it. Dr. Robbins knew you wouldn't tolerate any more."

Callie smiled at that. Her girlfriend knew her well. "Good, please go work now. I'm in charge here, not Ari- Dr. Robbins."

"Yes, ma'am," Rudolph said, before dropping a package on the desk and running off with his buddies.

"Did he seriously just call me 'ma'am'?" Callie asked no one. She smiled as she picked up the perfectly wrapped gift. It was almost too pretty to open. Almost. She looked around before tearing it like a little kid on Christmas morning. Inside was a new pair of leather gloves with a little note on top.

_Fingers intertwined  
I don't believe you are real  
Found my perfect fit_

Callie's face was actually starting to hurt from smiling too much. She picked up the gloves and tried them on. They fit... well, they fit like a glove. She laughed out loud at herself. She was beginning to feel crazy. All she'd been doing was sitting here smiling and laughing to herself for a good half hour, at least. She loved the fact that Arizona had remembered a brief statement she had made in passing about being sad that she had lost one glove somewhere between her apartment and the hospital.

"Dr. Torres!" Callie looked up as a nurse came running up to her and quickly removed her new gloves, shoving them in her pocket. "Incoming bus. Forty-two year old female experiencing severe chest pain."

"Thanks, Scotty. Page cardio for me, please." When he left, Callie chugged the rest of her coffee and sighed heavily as she stood up. This was not her area of expertise at all and she found herself wishing someone would come in with a broken anything. Just yesterday she had a patient who broke both of his wrists just by getting shocked with Christmas lights. Now that was cool. She sighed again and stepped outside into the snow to meet the ambulance. The falling snow made her miss her girlfriend even more. Arizona loved it when it snowed. She checked her watch and noted that they were all probably just now sitting down to dinner at Meredith's and that she still had eleven more hours before she'd be able to see her Arizona for Christmas. As she stood alone waiting for the arrival of her next patient, she started quietly singing her favorite Christmas song to herself to try and get in a more festive mood.

* * *

As Arizona sat down in her assigned spot at Meredith's large table, she looked around. This wasn't exactly how she wanted to be spending her first Christmas in Seattle, but she had been invited and that meant a lot to her. She'd never felt a sense of family like this in any other hospital she'd worked in and was happy to actually be included. She didn't think she'd be spending Christmas with Meredith Grey's and Miranda Bailey's fathers. It just made her miss her own family more. And she definitely never in a million years pictured herself spending Christmas with Mark Sloan and his surprise teenaged daughter. "Callie?" Derek asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Working," Arizona answered, trying to hide her pout.

"Aw, that's too bad."

Yeah, it was too bad. Even though Arizona understood why her girlfriend was working, she still didn't like it. And judging by the phone calls and pages her colleagues had been getting all night, Callie wasn't having the best Christmas. Arizona had a plan though and she hoped her girlfriend didn't think it was too cheesy. The blonde had never done anything like it for anyone and she was afraid she may have gone overboard, but she knew Callie and Callie liked those kinds of mushy romantic gestures, even if she tried to come off as an apathetic badass at times. She discreetly checked her phone that she had hidden in her lap and saw no new messages. Arizona was pulled out of her thoughts again by a booming voice at the opposite end of the table. Apparently Bailey had said something out of line and her dad was now scolding her. Arizona uncomfortably stared down at her plate as the man continued to lay into his daughter. This reminded her of dinners when she was a kid and her brother, Tim, would get in trouble at the dinner table. She was just happy the anger wasn't directed at her. When Bailey started to fight back, Arizona glanced up without moving her head and saw that everyone else seemed just as interested in their dinner plate as she was. This was so awkward. Arizona didn't do awkward. Oh and now Bailey was crying, making this dinner even more awkward. Arizona looked between father and daughter with wide eyes. Even as an adult, if she had ever talked to her own dad that way, she'd be in all kinds of trouble. Everyone was frozen now and being who she was, Arizona had a sudden need to fix or distract from the situation. "Uh, green beans, anyone?" She picked up the tray she hoped had green beans on it and held it out, hoping someone would take it. Thankfully, someone did and the distraction seemed to get everyone back on track. Soon meaningless chatter filled the dining room and Arizona went back to her thoughts on Callie. She couldn't wait until this night was over and she'd get to see her again.

* * *

"No, I said 'curtain four!'" Callie yelled at yet another incompetent intern. She always felt more like a traffic controller and baby sitter when she was in charge of the ER. "I thought you were doctors! I would think you would be able to read numbers by now!"

"Sorry, Dr. Torres!"

"I don't need apologies. I need you to do it right the first time." Callie rubbed her temple with her finger. Her good mood from earlier was completely gone. As an attending now, she wasn't supposed to deal with this kind of crap, but she was short on residents. It'd been an hour and a half since she finished her last cup of coffee and she was fighting off a massive headache. As if reading her mind, Rudolph appeared in front of her and waved another cup of coffee from her favorite shop in front of her face. She growled at him as she snapped it out of his hand.

"Merry Christmas, Dr. Torres," he said with a forced smile before disappearing.

"Merry Christmas, my ass." Callie huffed and plopped down in the nearest chair. Even though she was surrounded by twinkling lights, decorated trees, and pictures of Santa Clause drawn by the kids in the Peds wing, it didn't feel much like Christmas to her. Even a sip of her still perfectly hot coffee couldn't make her smile. She ignored a loud crash that came from behind curtain five as she spun the cup in her hand. She perked up when she saw this one had something written on it too.

_No words can describe  
Being in love on Christmas  
I won't even try_

That made Callie grin and she felt her heart swell. She didn't know how Arizona did it, but she always knew when she needed her most. Callie looked around the bustling ER. Interns, residents, orderlies, and nurses were working together in perfect harmony. She suddenly felt bad for being pouty about being here, since she wasn't the only one stuck here on Christmas. "Rudolph!" She called out when she saw the same intern run by her.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he realized she was talking to him. "Me?"

"Yeah, I'm going to need you to go back to this place." Callie waved the cup in front of his face. "And order about twenty peppermint hot chocolates."

"I am a doctor! An Harvard educated doctor! I am not a gopher!"

"I can be way meaner than Dr. Robbins," Callie threatened.

"I can't carry that many drinks."

"Bring Prancer and Dancer with you, I don't care. Just do it." Callie reached into her pocket to see if she had enough money on her to pay for it. A piece of paper fell out as she pulled out a wad of cash. She handed over what she thought would be enough and nudged him towards the door. "Chop, chop!" When he was gone, Callie picked up the paper and unfolded it.

_Freshly fallen snow  
Is a wonder to behold  
Your smile outshines_

"How?" Callie smiled as she looked around. She was pretty sure that it wasn't there earlier and had no idea how it got in there now. She stuck it back in her pocket and had to stop herself from skipping back to the nurse's station. When she saw another package with her name on it waiting for her, she halted so quickly she almost fell forward. Without sitting down, she picked it up. This one matched the previous one. The blue wrapping paper had silver snowflakes etched into it and it reminded Callie of Arizona. Maybe that was the point. She took the giant silver bow off the top and stuck it on the computer before ripping it open. A beautiful, dark purple piece of material lay in the box. She fingered it and smiled. It was one of the softest things she'd ever touched. When she picked it up, she saw that it was a scarf and rubbed it on her cheek. The softness also reminded her of Arizona and she could have sworn it smelled like her too. Callie was really missing her girlfriend now. She wasn't surprised when she looked down at the box and saw a little card still in it. On one side it had a snowman and the other had the same handwriting in the same red ink.

_Passion fueled kisses  
On a cool winter evening  
Your love keeps me warm_

"Dr. Torres, what do you want us to do with these?"

Callie looked up with a wide grin and saw that Rudolph, Prancer, and Dancer were back. Each had a tray of hot chocolates in each hand and had put their Santa hats back on for some reason. "What's with the hats?"

"It's snowing and they're warm." Rudolph shrugged.

"Okay then." Callie put the scarf back in the box and hid it out of view. "Follow me." They headed back to the main part of the ER and Callie looked around to see who was the least busy. "Kepner!"

"Yes, Dr. Torres?" April approached the brunette cautiously. Callie had been Scrooge-like most of the night and April wasn't sure what she had done wrong.

"Here." Callie handed her a cup. "Merry Christmas."

"Um..." April eyed the cup in her hand suspiciously. "What is it?"

"Peppermint hot chocolate. It's my thank you for being here and working so hard."

"Oh." April smiled. "Well, thank you, Dr. Torres."

"You're welcome. Now, shoo. Back to work." Callie pushed her to the side. "Adamson!" She went to grab another cup.

"No, not that one!" Rudolph pulled the tray out of her reach. "That's yours."

"Mine?" Callie grinned, picked up the cup, and spun it around in her hand. She had a feeling... yup, there was another note.

_Christmas means magic  
That is what my kids tell me  
With you, I believe_

"Dr. Robbins said no more coffee after this. You've had too much."

"What are you? My mother?" Callie rolled her eyes at the intern and took a sip of her coffee before putting it back on the tray. She picked up a hot chocolate and handed it to the resident waiting in front of her. "Merry Christmas, Reed."

"Thanks." Reed smiled wearily and went back to her patient.

"Kyle!" Callie called out to the only intern whose name she actually knew, thanks to Arizona. She handed him his drink, wished him a Merry Christmas, and moved on to the next. She continued this way until she was out of hot chocolate. Her estimate was perfect and everyone got one. Callie wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but the morale seemed higher now as everyone found at least some Christmas sprit. She walked over to the radio and turned it up, blasting 'Winter Wonderland'. "Alright, people! There's only a few more hours of Christmas left; let's make them count!" At that, Callie grabbed her coffee and walked away. There was only minor emergencies, that weren't really emergencies at all, and she wasn't needed.

Back at the nurse's station, she pulled out her phone to try and call Arizona, but she didn't answer. She tried calling Mark and Cristina to see if she was still with them, but they didn't answer either. She threw down her phone and tapped her fingers on the desk as she looked around. The Emergency Room had finally started to quiet down, but now Callie was starting to get antsy and she still had another nine hours to go. She leaned back in her chair, put her feet up on the desk, and stared up at the ceiling. Not even a minute later she felt someone approach her. She smiled excitedly when she saw Prancer's head pop into view above her. "Yes?"

"I'm supposed to give you this now." He handed her a book and walked away before she could say anything.

"Thanks!" Callie called after him and opened the book he gave her. It was full of Sudoku puzzles to keep her busy. On the first page was the red ink she was now looking forward to.

_You understand me  
Like no one else ever has  
You and I are one_

Callie smiled as she reached into her pocket for her favorite pen and found another piece of paper that wasn't there before.

_You know that one look  
That is reserved for just me  
It leaves me breathless_

She was starting to get both really creeped out and overwhelmed with the love she was feeling for her girlfriend. Unsure of what to do with herself, she decided to just work on some puzzles to pass the time until the next real emergency came in.

* * *

"It's Callie," Cristina said when she looked at her ringing phone.

"Don't answer it!" Arizona said as she tried to grab it from her, but the other woman was surprisingly quick.

"What if she needs me to save a life?"

"Then she would have paged you and you're too drunk anyway. She's looking for me."

"You don't want to talk to her on Christmas? Some girlfriend you are."

"I do. Just not yet." Arizona turned her attention back to Lexie and Owen, who were singing 'Jingle Bell Rock' together. The blonde loved Christmas carols and was perfectly content sitting there and listening to them all night. She wished Callie was there with her though. She was surrounded by the love of her dysfunctional hospital family, the fire was roaring, the lights were dimmed to show off the Christmas tree, and a gentle snow was falling outside. It was the perfect setting to be cuddled up on the couch under a blanket with her girlfriend, but instead she was sitting next to Cristina Yang, who was chugging egg nog like there was no tomorrow. Arizona felt her phone buzz and pulled it out of her pocket to find a text message from one of her elves.

**She's sitting at the nurses station and staring at the ceiling.**

**Is it busy?**

**No, it's dead right now.**

**Bring her the puzzles. She's probably bored.**

Arizona pocketed her phone again and stood up to go find Meredith to see about some leftovers.

* * *

"Yo, Torres!"

Callie looked up from her book where she had been working on a particularly challenge puzzle for the past half hour and saw Alex running towards her dressed in scrubs. "Karev? What are you doing here? It's Christmas and you're not scheduled."

"I'm here to give you a break. Not that it looks like you need one."

"Why?"

"Robbins." Alex knew that was all the explanation he needed.

"You really don't have to."

"I want to," Alex said with a rare genuine smile and handed Callie a note. "Merry Christmas."

"Thanks, Alex. I'll come back in a couple of hours." Callie gathered her things and got up to head towards an on call room, so she could get some much needed sleep. On the way, she unfolded the note he handed her and suddenly felt very excited when she read it.

_I thought you could use a break  
But see if you can stay awake  
What's behind the door  
Of on call room four?  
You, I would never forsake_

Callie quickly changed directions and all but ran up the stairs to Arizona and her favorite on call room. When she got there she found a note taped to the door.

_You whisper my name  
And everything is perfect  
My one and only_

She grinned as she carefully tore it off and pushed opened the door. Her eyes widened when she saw that someone had decorated it with colorful string lights, paper snowflakes all over the walls, and a little Christmas tree with presents underneath. There was soft holiday music playing from a laptop that had one of those fireplace screen savers on display and the table was set up with a mini holiday feast for one. It was beautiful, but there was something very important missing. Callie almost cried from the disappointment. She really had thought Arizona would be there. Since no one was here to stop her, she ignored the food and went straight for the presents. There was a large one and a small one. Deciding to save the biggest one for last, she unwrapped the small one. It was a framed picture of her and Arizona and another note.

_You were made for me  
We are an unlikely pair  
I was made for you_

Callie smiled to herself as she ran her finger over her girlfriend's stunning smile. She felt pathetic about how much she missed and needed her right now. She hugged the picture and set it up on the table before moving to the next present. This time the note was on the tag.

_Morning comes too fast  
When we get lost in our love  
Sun, go back to bed_

When Callie opened it she grinned when she saw it was the single serve coffee machine she'd been dying to get. She seriously thought about opening it up and plugging it in right then, but decided against it since she did want to get some sleep soon. Her stomach rumbling reminded her there was food and by the look and smell of it, very delicious food. The large plate was full of ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, something green that looked like someone already chewed it up and spit it back out, and two different kinds of rolls. She laughed when she saw the little snowman couple made out of marshmallows that were obviously decorated to look like Arizona and her. When she picked them up to get a better look, she saw they had been sitting on another note.

_Whenever you laugh  
I am instantly okay  
How do you do it?_

Smiling, she gently set them down and grabbed a roll to nibble on as she waked around the room to get a better look at the decorations. She gasped when she realized the ornaments on the tree where her favorite ones from her childhood that had been on the tree in her apartment when she left earlier that day. There was one ornament she didn't recognize though. It was a plain silver ball with red writing on it.

_Dreams I never knew  
Didn't think love was for me  
You've opened my eyes_

Callie didn't know what had gotten into Arizona, but she was loving it. No one had ever done anything romantic like this for her and it was quickly becoming one of her favorite Christmases, which was sort of funny, since she'd spent most of it alone at the hospital so far. She sighed as she sat down at that table and picked up her fork. The food was just as amazing as it looked and wondered where it came from. She had just shoved a too big of a bite of ham in her mouth when she heard yelling coming from right outside the door.

"You said to just give it to her! You didn't tell me when!"

"You knew the plan, Alex! I wasn't ready yet! Now she's in there all alone, probably thinking I don't love her enough or something! Idiot!"

Callie jumped out of her chair. She knew that voice well, yelling or not. She opened the door to find Arizona and Alex in the middle of a shouting match.

"Seriously?! I volunteer to help you out and this is how you repay me?"

"Shut it, Karev!"

"Merry freakin' Christmas!" Alex yelled as he walked away. "I'll be busting my ass in the ER if you need me."

"That wasn't very nice," Callie said softly, making Arizona spin around in surprise. When she saw the front of the blonde, Callie's breath caught in her throat. She could have sworn Arizona was glowing in her burgundy, off-the-shoulder dress, messy up do, sexy natural makeup, and silver heels that showed up her already perfect legs. She thought she had even heard angels singing, but she chalked that up to her exhaustion. Callie was suddenly feeling pretty dumpy standing this close to such beauty. Her dirty scrubs and unbrushed hair weren't exactly attractive. She shook her head to clear it when she realized Arizona was talking.

"I know." Arizona sighed. "I just wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted to be here waiting for you, but I needed to change first. I wanted to look good for you."

"Everything is perfect." Callie reached out to grab the blonde's hand and pulled her closer for a hug. She buried her face in Arizona's neck, enjoying being the shorter one for once. She smiled as she inhaled the delicious scent of gingerbread, or so she thought. "And you're always beautiful to me."

"It's not too much?"

"Are you kidding?" Callie pulled away enough so she could see Arizona's face. The blonde looked embarrassed. "I was just thinking that this was one of the best Christmases ever and now that you're here, it is definitely my favorite Christmas. Everything has been amazing. Thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it." Arizona blushed.

"I'm sorry I don't have your present here." Callie had no idea how she was going to top what the blonde did for her.

"It's okay. Today's about you." Arizona grinned. "Tomorrow can be about me."

"Come on. I want to kiss you without an audience," Callie said as she pulled Arizona into the on call room, locking the door behind them. She wrapped her arms loosely around the blonde's waist and tried not to get lost in her eyes as she struggled to come up with what to say. "I don't know any words to explain how happy and special you made me feel today."

"I wanted you to have a good Christmas."

"It worked." Callie squeezed the blonde in her arms tighter and brushed her lips across the other woman's for the kiss she'd been longing for all day. When Arizona wrapped her arms around her neck and deepened the kiss, they both sighed happily as they melted into each other's embrace.

"Merry Christmas, Calliope," Arizona whispered against the other woman's lips.

"Merry Christmas." Callie grinned. Even though they spent most of the day apart and were now in the middle of the hospital, the flickering of the Christmas lights in the dark room, the smell of the holiday dinner and gingerbread, and the sound of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing 'Christmas Canon' that filled their little bubble Arizona had created for them made their first Christmas together oddly perfect and they wouldn't have had it any other way.


End file.
